Federal Court. In the context of a decision under s 501CA(4) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), was there an obligation on the Tribunal arising from Direction 90 to "consider the likely effect on minor children in Australia if the applicant were to remain in immigration detention for a lengthy period of time"?
Some of the questions to the Federal Court (FCA) were as follows:
Question 1: In the context of a decision under s 501CA(4) of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth), was there an obligation on the Tribunal arising from Direction 90 to "consider the likely effect on minor children in Australia if the applicant were to remain in immigration detention for a lengthy period of time"?
Question 2: If the answer to Question 1 is 'no', does it necessarily follow that, "in the absence of any clearly articulated submission, there was no obligation on the Tribunal to consider the effect on the children of the applicant’s possible lengthy detention separately from deportation"?
The FCA answered those questions as follows: